Pregnancy weight gain questions

Hi folks! I have a few questions about pregnancy weight gain. For those who don't know me, I've been maintaining a ~50lb loss for seven years and am currently 18w5d pregnant with twins. Here are my questions/issues.

1) My doctor told me that I need to gain at least 40lbs during this pregnancy since it's twins, and he said, "It's not possible to gain too much weight." I'm currently up ~19lbs as of this morning (depending what you consider my start weight). I read that for twin pregnancies, you should gain most of your weight early, including at least 24lbs by 24 weeks. Am I on track? I feel like I've been gaining a lot of weight each week the past couple weeks, like 2-3lbs. If I keep up at this rate I'll overshoot the 40lb goal if I make it to 36 weeks, and despite what the doctor said I'm pretty sure it's possible to gain too much weight. Will the weight gain slow down?

2) Relatedly, how do I know that my weight gain is going to the right place? When I look in the mirror it's mostly belly and boobs, but this past week I've noticed that my thighs and arms seem chubbier too. Is that okay? Or does that mean I'm gaining too much too fast?

3) If I need to slow down the weight gain, how the heck do I do it? I mean, I know how to cut calories and all, I've lost before and maintained for years, but my doctor says I need 175g of protein per day to help prevent complications because I'm having monochorionic twins. I have no idea how to eat that much protein without also eating a lot of calories, and I'm so hungry all the time that it's not like I'm stuffing myself.

4) This question is specific to maintainers who've been pregnant -- how do you cope with watching that number on the scale go up and up and up when you've worked for so hard for so long to keep it steady? I'm pushing up close to 160lbs right now and all I can think about is how fat I was when I weighed 160 before, and how when I get to my 40lb pregnancy gain I'll be almost right back where I started.

1. I think it's extremely hard to over gain weight while pregnant with multiples. I've seen some estimates that you need a minimum of 50lbs for a healthy twin pregnancy.
2. Your pregnant body stores weight the way it needs too, regardless of where it "shows" up. Fat stores are essential even if they are unsightly :-(
3. I think you'll naturally slow down on the weightloss as you "run out of room". That's why it's important to gain the weight early.

First of all, congratulations on your twin pregnancy and I hope that you stay nice and healthy and have an easy pregnancy.

And I know the "you can't gain too much" thing for someone who has struggled with weight is a tough one, but just calm down and realize that you are carrying babies, not fat.

During pregnancy, you will gain all over. Your body does that on purpose to nourish the babies and nourish you now and during breastfeeding times. So, yes, you WILL gain not just in the belly and boobs, but your butt and thighs - everywhere.

Pat of it is fat, part of it is more blood as you also need more blood for pregnancy.

I think if you eat 'clean' with the right proteins and fats and complex carbs (veggies and low starch fruit) and stay away from refined sugars/foods you will be fine. You will be nourishing body and growing healthy twins.

Sure, you weighed 160 before - but now you carrying an extra organ, two babies and two amniotic sacs. That's WORLDS different than before. A few weeks post-partum (and it does take a few weeks) the extra blood, the babies the placenta weight will be gone and then you can see where you are with your weight.

It's much better to gain a little bit too much than to gain a little bit too little in your case and it doesn't seem like you are going crazy - just the normal "I'm starving" mode of growing babies.

Ok breathe!! I have been through THREE pregnancies after maintenance - it IS possible to get back! - and I'm 3 months postpartum with the last one (40lb gain, not twins, just big babies). You gain healthy weight for your babies and then re-use your same losing principles with learned maintenance habits after. Nursing (which I did not do before) has helped me lose faster once I established my supply and got into a deficit (I'm at 2000 calories and losing 2lbs a week still).

Thanks guys! I feel a lot better knowing that it's okay to gain weight in the rest of my body and that I'm not gaining too fast. I am trying to eat pretty clean, especially now that I'm past the morning sickness. It's been a little bit of a mental struggle because my #1 nutrition goal right now is hitting my protein target, which means I've been eating a whole lot of meat and cheese, where my normal maintenance diet was largely veggies and only a little meat and cheese.

My other mental struggle has been with exercise. As a maintainer, I usually worked out 4-6 days per week fairly intensely. Once I got pregnant I was so sick and exhausted the first trimester that I could barely get off the couch, and only managed a few very slow, very short walks. Now my belly is so big that a 15-minute walk with the dog is about all I can handle without killing my back. It feels like I'm slacking off or cheating or something because I'm not exercising, even though they don't recommend much exercise for twin pregnancies.

Sacha, you look great! It's comforting to know you've been able to get back to your maintenance weight relatively quickly.

Oh honey I feel your pain, and I do remember you So first congrats and second, alls I can say is just eat a healthfully as you can, exercise as much as you can, and ditch the scale as best you can. Just concentrate on feeling good and being healthy.

I'm also FREAKING out...I just found out I'm pregnant...and it wasn't expected, but we are excited. I lost 70 before my first and gained 50!!!! It was pretty tramatic...but I lost all of the pregnancy weight plus a bunch more afterwards...so I know I can do it again.

I'm only struggling right now with some emotional eating because we were not planning this pregnancy, and were pretty content with our lives, but we decided that life has other plans for us and this is the course we are meant to take. But being my second I'm showing WAY sooner and I'm having a little bit of a hard time transitioning to pregnancy mode. But I know that I don't have to gain the same amount of weight as last time, I know what to do, but if I do...it's OK...I can lose it again. I'm also an avid runner and a new cylist and so I'm determined to continue with both as long as I can, but afraid that I may have some trouble.

I went full term and gained 60 pounds. The boys weighed a bit over 6 pounds each. I weighed 135 when I got pregnant, and 195 at delivery. Yikes! I gained the most in months 7 and 8.

The good news, I lost 35 pounds in the hospital and all but the last 5 pounds came off fairly easy.

Just do what your Dr. says and take good care of yourself.

As far as exercise, do you have access to a swimming pool. It's low/no impact, good exercise and floating is so nice when you're feeling all big and well, big.

A couple other things I remember that helped after they were born. Be sure you have baby swings. A good comfy, BIG, rocking chair, I used to put the boys in the chair and sit on the floor and rock it with my foot.. Or, I could feed one and have the other laying next to me on the seat of the chair.

My boys had totally different personalities and what worked for one, didn't always work for the other, just an observation from experience.

Is this your first pregnancy? If so, it's such a new experience and your body changes so much so fast, it's hard to take it all in.

__________________
3+ year maintainer.
The human body is capable of amazing things! But without the mind, it is nothing. Get your mind in gear and the body will follow!

Be selfish about caring for yourself, you deserve it!
Weight Watcher leader! But always a Member first!

ncuneo, congrats on your pregnancy, even though it was unexpected! Mine was intentional, but the fact that it's twins came as a total shock. I hope you have better luck with continuing to exercise than I did; I hear first trimester symptoms are worse with twins. DH's cousin who is an avid runner is also pregnant and due next month, and I'm pretty sure she's barely changed her workout regimen at all beyond dropping her distance a little.

Janelle, thanks for the words of wisdom! Yes, this is my first pregnancy. Given that I'll get two babies out of the deal, it will probably be my ONLY pregnancy! I was also around 135 pre-pregnancy. At least, 135 is my maintenance weight -- I was right around 137-138 when I got the news. As of today I'm at 157. Are public pools okay to go to when you're pregnant? I've thought about going swimming at the indoor pool I used to go to but I'm afraid of catching a virus or something.

Baby swings are crazy. DH and I went shopping last weekend and ended up putting on our registry a swing that's got this whole crazy electronics module. It swings itself, has music, colored lights, and a mobile that spins around on its own. I had no idea such things existed.

One thing I learned with my during-maintenance pregnancy is that you can't control weight gain. I ate well, even better than during pregnancy, and worked out at my same intensity as long as I could. At the end I was still doing yoga and aerobics, cardio and weight training. I gained almost 50 pounds, total, in spite of it all. The majority of it came in the first 1 1/2 trimesters, then I averaged a pound a week after that anyway. Still holding onto 10 pounds of it that I can't get off, no matter what I try.